Monday, April 17, 2006

THE GLOBAL STORM WARNING

The Washington Times is reporting in an editorial that the Global War On Terror, or the recently rebranded 'The Long War', is reaching a crisis point with the Taliban in Afghanistan mounting a strong Spring Offensive, with the on-the-street and governmental turmoil in Iraq increasing, with the Israel-Palestine conflict ramping up to an Intifada III and with once strong US allies in the Middle East Gulf states looking to China and India for future "protection" and energy deals.

NATO is set to double its 10,000 strong force in Afghanistan by November, the Taliban is anything but a spent force, suicide bombings are becoming commonplace, the Afghanistan Army is estimated to still be four years away from "being able to fight on their own" and heavy air attacks by US bombers are reaching high in mountain regions closer and closer to the border with Pakistan.

Oil is moving beyond $70 a barrel, gold is cresting $600 an ounce, the American dollar is rapidly losing confidence in East Asia, Iran is ramping up uranium enrichment and there are "fears of worse to come in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and on the Israeli-Palestinian front..."

In the US backed (and some would say US controlled) Gulf countries, such as Kuwait, there is serious concern about what will happen when the US eventually pulls out of Iraq, and now that Saudi Arabia moves ahead building strong new ties with India and China, there are signs that these countries "no longer depend on US protection".